Railway traffic controlling apparatus



Oct. 12, 1937.

J. J. VANHORN RAILWAY TRAFFIC CONTROLLING APPARATUS Filed June 9,-1936 |Nv TOR JamaPJ A 01101 12.

HIS ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 12, 1937 RAILWAY,

Par-E NT, OFFICE RAFFIC CONTROLLING ArPAaA'r s James J. Van horn, Swissvale, *Pa., assignorto I The Union Switch & Signal Company, Swissvale,.l a., a corporation of Pennsylvania Applicationklune '9, 1936, Serial No. 84,243

3 Claims.

My invention relatestorailway traiiic controlling apparatus, and more particularly'to apparatus for indicating at a control point the position of a remotely located railway trackswitch.

I will describe one form of apparatus embodying my invention, and will then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

Referring to the accomp'anying drawing, the

reference character T indicates the rails of a section of railway track including a power operated track switch W. A s "indicated diagrammatically on the drawing, switch Wis actuated by a power switch machine SMcontrolledirom a remote point by meansof amanually operable switch lever L. Relay KR is the usual polarized indication relay for indicating the position and locked condition of the switch. When switch W is locked normal, as shown, a circuit is closed which may be traced from one terminal B of a suitable source of energy over contact I of an indication circuit controller controlled by the switch, the winding of relay KR, circuit controller contact 2 to the other terminal C of the same source, so that relay KR is, energized to close its neutral contact 3 and to also close its polar contact 4 to the left as shown.

If the control lever L is moved from its lefthand position as shown to its right-hand position to reverse the switch, theswitch will first become unlocked, opening contacts I and 2 to deenergize relay KR, and these contacts will close in the reverse position when the switch is fully reversed and locked, whereupon relay KR will be energized in the opposite direction so as to again close its neutral contact 3, but in this case the polar contact 4 will be closed to the right.

Relay KR is provided with repeating relays NKP and RKP, such as are customarily provided to control the circuits for signals governing trafiic movements over the switch. Relay NKP is energized over a circuit from terminal B, through contact 3 and the left-hand polar contact 4 of relay KR, relay NKP to terminal C when relay KR is energized in the normal direction, and similarly relay RKP is energized over contact 3 and the right-hand polar contact 4 when relay KR is energized in'the reverse direction, so that the condition of these relays reflects the position and locked condition of switch W. In some instances, the relay KR may be omitted, and the relays NKP and RKP may be controlled directly over the switch circuit controller contacts I and 2, or the circuits for relays NKP and RKP may also include contacts controlled by lever L arranged so that these relays when energized will indicate correspondence between the switch and its control lever, but this is immaterial as far as my present invention is concerned.

For the guidance of the operator in controlling the switch, I provide at the point of control a track model or control panel having'on its face a miniaturerepresentation of the track layout comprising a diagram t of the track section T and a miniature switch 10 at alocation corre- 'sponding to that of the switch W. The miniature switch to is movable on the diagram to indicate the route to'be taken by a train in passing over the switch W, and is connectedgmechanically to the armature of a control magnet or relay WK so thatyit occupies its normal position as shown in the drawing, when relay WK is energized. Relay WK is energized, when theswitch'is normal, over a circuit which may be traced from terminal B, through front contact 5 of relay NKP, and relay WK to terminal C. In this position the movable switch to covers a gap in the straight line portion of the diagram 15 so as to establish the continuity of that portion, and at the same time expose a similar gap shown just below the switch 20 which interrupts the continuity of the line representing the route from the siding to the main track of the diagram, to indicate that the track switch W occupies its normal position. When relay WK becomes deenergized, the miniature switch w is moved to its lower position to cover the last mentioned gapin the diagram and to expose the gap in the main line portion, to indicate that the track switch W is reversed.

One feature of my invention resides in the control of the miniature switch to by relay WK, in such a manner that this switch will remain in its last operated position while the track switch W is in transit from either one of its locked positions to the other. During this interval contact 3 is open so that relays NWP and RWP are both deenergized, but when the switch W isin transit from normal to reverse, the switch to will remain in the normal position because relay WK is held energized over a stick circuit which extends from terminal B, through back contact 6 of relay RKP, front contact I and winding of relay WK to terminal C. It will be apparent, therefore, that relay WK will not release to reverse the switch w until the switch W has been locked in its reverse position and contact 6 opens. "When the switch W is in transit from reverse to normal the switch w will remain reversed, and will return to normal only when the track switch is locked normal and contact 5 closes to pick up relay WK.

Heretofore it has been customary to employ a pair of magnets, one for each switch position, in order to cause a miniature switch to follow the movements of a track switch, but it will be readily apparent that the arrangement herein disclosed is to be preferred because of its simplicity, since it employs a simple neutral relay which is comparatively inexpensive and which occupies a minimum amount 'of the limited space that is available in track models of this character, particularly when complicated layouts are represented thereon.

Although I have herein shown and described only one form of apparatus embodying my inven-. 1

tion, it is understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: v

1. In combination with a stretch of railway track including a track switch, a control panel comprising a miniature representation of the theswitch is lockedin its normal position, a reverse indication relayenergized only when the switch is locked in itsreverse position, a miniature switch operable to a normal or to a reverse position to indicate the position of the track switch, a control relay, a pickup circuit for said control relay including a front contact of said normal indication relay, a stick circuit for said control relay including its own front contact and a back contact of said reverse indication relay, and means for operating said miniature switch to its normal position when said control relay is energized and to its reverse position when said control relay is deenergized.

3. In combination with a railway track switch, an indication circuit controller controlled by the switch having normal contacts closed only when the switch is locked in its normal position and reverse contacts closed only when the switch is locked in its reverse position, a polarized indication relay, means for energizing said relay in a normal direction when said normal contacts are closed and in a reverse direction when said reverse contacts are closed, normal and reverse repeating relays, means for energizing the normal repeating relay when the indication relay is energized in the normal direction and for energizing the reverse repeating relay when the indication relay is energized in the reverse direction, a control relay, a pickup circuit for said control relay including a front contact of the normal repeating relay, a stick circuit for said control relay including its own front contact and a back contact of the reverse repeating relay, a miniatureswitchoperable to a normal or to a reverse position to indicate the position of the track switch, and means for operating said miniature switch to its normal position in response to the energization of said control relay and to its reverse position in response to the deenergization of said control relay.

JAMES J. VANHORN. 

